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An anonymous blogger who claims to be a high school student on Vancouver’s west side launched a gossip and revenge blog this weekend that had some teens worried.

The Tumblr blog published private texts between local teens referring to their plans to have sex, photos of teens doctored with graphic drawings of genitals, and crude commentary about their “hook ups,” body parts and other sexual activities. In many cases, the children’s full names were posted along with clear images of their faces. High schools mentioned included Prince of Wales, Point Grey and Churchill.

The blog was deleted from Tumblr Sunday evening, but cached versions still exist so The Sun is leaving out any detail that could identify the blog’s author or its shaming victims.

The Sun was tipped off to the site by a UBC student, who was concerned after a friend was targeted by the site.

Billed as a hub for gossip, the site featured a blurred selfie of a blond girl, identified only by the website’s initials, and asked kids to email in secrets that could be used for revenge.

On Facebook, some kids who had seen the site expressed outrage and fear.

RCMP Const. Matt Van Laer of the Integrated Child Exploitation Unit said sites like this demonstrate just how slowly the message is getting through to kids about responsible behaviour on social media.

Cyberbullying can have dire consequences, and sharing images of a sexual nature of a minor, as this site does, is against the law.

“Any sexual picture of people under the age of 18 can fall under the definition of child pornography. It is a criminal offence to distribute or share these images. As soon as you create images that advocate, depict or counsel sexual activity with a minor whether it’s in the form of audio, a text, an image or a drawing, the results are clear,” Laer said on Sunday.

In an email interview, the anonymous blogger said she is a high school student who was inspired by television shows Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars, which portray similar methods of spreading rumours about teens for the purpose of revenge. She said she planned to “post regularly to keep people in the 411.” She said she was focusing on Vancouver’s west side because “this is where all the popular kids except (name redacted) live.”

Revenge and non-celebrity gossip sites are generally focused on publishing embarrassing or pornographic images submitted by ex-partners or disgruntled friends. They are often stolen from phones, hacked or shared images, and often include the person’s name and social media contact information. Australia and Israel are the first countries to make the posting of pornographic pictures on a revenge site a sex crime.

The blogger, when asked whether she understood that photos depicting minors in a sexual context is a criminal offence, replied “She’s wearing underwear so it’s not pornography,” referring to one photo of a young girl mooning the mirror in a thong. The blogger did not address the other more graphic images, drawings or texts. She declined to provide her name, but claimed her parents were aware of the blog.

Shortly before the blog was deleted Sunday evening, the blogger claimed her father works with police, but he wasn’t upset about the site.

The issue of cyberbullying came to public attention in 2012 when Coquitlam teen Amanda Todd committed suicide after a topless picture of her was posted on a social media site. Most B.C. schools have adopted zero tolerance policies regarding bullying.

In an ironic twist, the anonymous blogger claimed, regarding Amanda Todd, “I knew her quite well and I miss her very much.”

Laer advises kids to report this kind of online activity to cybertip.ca or needhelpnow.ca, where web experts work with the RCMP to track down Internet bullies.

“Don’t respond to messages that are threatening, anything of this nature, anything that falls under harassment. Ignore it, and report it to the authorities.”

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